Congratulations to Gary McCracken, Emma Willcox (FWF) and Riley Bernard! They were recently notified of a $10,000 grant from the UTIA Center for Wildlife Health to do a project titled: “Understanding Lower Pseudogymnoascus destructans Loads and Susceptibility to White-nose Syndrome in Gray Bats.”
EEB Researcher Veronica Brown, from the McCracken Lab, appeared on the WATE Evening News shortly before 5pm on Wednesday September 10, to provide expert information about bats. A bat interrupted the WATE Good Morning Tennessee broadcast around 6am that morning; the incident made national news (e.g. New York Daily News)!
Thank you, Veronica, for helping set the record straight about bats!
Alix Pfenningwerth, a graduate student in the Schweitzer Lab, won a Fellowship from the American Rhododendron Society this summer. Her research proposes to study how genetic variation in Rhododendron species influences physiological performance under a changing climate, including increasingly fluctuating temperatures, moisture regimes, soil nutrient cycling, and interactions with pathogens, herbivores, and beneficial microbes.
Michael Van Nuland, a graduate student in the Schweitzer Lab, just won the Francis and Eveyln Clark Soil Biology Scholarship for his work on the role of soil communities in mediating range shifts with climate change. He will be honored at a ceremony in CA this November. See the full press release for more information.
Riley Bernard, a PhD student in the McCracken Lab, just received notification of $5,000 in funding from Basically Bats Wildlife Conservation Society. The funding is for her project “Epidemiology of Pseudogymnoascus destructans: Changes in Fungal Load on Active Bats throughout Winter in the Southeast.”
Graduate student Cassie Dresser (Fitzpatrick Lab) has just found out that her work on Bog Turtle conservation in collaboration with the Knoxville Zoo was funded by a $21,000 grant from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Congratulations!
Last week, GREBE led the first annual graduate student retreat in the Smoky mountains. New and current students ventured up to the Biological Field Station for a weekend of games, hiking, campfires, and conversation. Gorgeous weather bolstered the weekend outdoors, with wildlife sitings ranging from a black widow spider and dobsonfly in the bathroom to hummingbirds and a green heron on our relaxing river trip. Can’t wait for next year!
